


You Aren't a Coward

by Vic_writes01



Series: Tumblr Prompts - Not Reddie [4]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, Human Pennywise (IT), M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:47:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21855511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vic_writes01/pseuds/Vic_writes01
Summary: At a reunion, Pennywise (an escaped murderer) comes back to Derry to kill the Losers like he had planned to 27 years prior. [Pennywise! Human AU]. Stan freaks out when he starts having Deja Vu and thinks he’s a coward but Bill proves otherwise.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough & Stanley Uris, Bill Denbrough/Stanley Uris
Series: Tumblr Prompts - Not Reddie [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584223
Kudos: 14





	You Aren't a Coward

Walking through the school doors for the first time in years, it was a little overwhelming for Stanley. When he got the notification saying that there was a high school reunion, he wasn’t sure if he would go. Especially with the hell that happened 27 years prior.

When the losers were mere middle schoolers, there was a serial killer on the loose, he dressed up as a clown to lure the kids away. The Losers Club had stuck together and ended up catching the man that was killing young children. Stan, however, was the only one who was attacked badly, to the extent of a total of 30 stitches in his arm and face.

He had never recovered from the trauma and was the first of the losers to leave Derry, in their junior year. Sure he kept in contact for a year or so but he sacrificed his friendships for his mental health. Losing any trace of anything that could remind him of Derry.

“Stan the Man? No way!” Stan cringed and turned to face none-other-than Richard Tozier, the bane of his existence. 

“Beep Beep Richie,” Stan grumbled.

“Ah, music to my ears.” Richie slung an arm around Stan’s shoulder and leads him to where the Losers had their table. “Look who I found.”

“Hey babe, didn’t think you would come,” Bill said with the shrug of his shoulders, a signal directed at the others.

“Yeah, had a change of mind, sorry that I missed the dinner last night with just the seven of us,” Stan replied moving to sit on Bill’s lap. “I didn’t want to regret anything.

The 5 others gathered around the table and looked questioningly at the brunette couple. Nobody would’ve guessed, they weren’t obvious as Richie and Eddie, or Ben and Bev. It made them wonder when they both started liking each other or if they even liked each other, like that, back when they were kids.

“When did this happen?” Mike asked.

“Three years ago. I was in Florida and met up with Stan.” Bill replied and Stan smiled softly to himself.

*

Stan had met up with Bill a couple of years ago when he was doing a press tour for his recent book. Stan had offered his spare bedroom for his old friend, even though they hadn’t spoken in several years or so, Bill took it.

Over dinner and drinks, the pair had caught up and Stan had stupidly and drunkenly admitted his feelings to Bill. Stan had followed Bill and Richie’s careers as they both grew. He was proud of both of them, even prouder when Richie came out and did so with Eddie by his side. But Bill, there was something that still lingered there, whenever he listened to the interviews or read his stories. Stan couldn’t remember much about his childhood or what his friends were like back in middle school and the first year of high school. 

As soon as Bill and Stan caught up that night, Stan knew. He knew what that lingering feeling was and yet he let himself drunkenly say it. 

****

A few hours later, the Losers found themselves up at Mike’s place, above the library. Mike had a collection of things from the fateful summer along with their friendship after Stan had left Derry. As he walked passed a memory wall, Stan had seen what he had missed out on. 

Graduation, prom, a series of football and basketball games. He got to one final photo and saw all the losers gathered around Richie in his valedictorian gown. “No fucking way! Rich, you made valedictorian?” Stan exclaimed.

“Yeah, there was half a point between me and Eds, I was just better at Biology than he was.” Richie boasted. “And yet, he’s a surgeon!”

“Beep beep Richie, and don’t call me Eds!” Eddie growled.

There was suddenly a loud bang from downstairs, causing all of them to jump, nobody moved. On his way over, he heard that Pennywise had escaped a high-security prison but he was too close to Derry to turn back. It was a high possibility that the man that goes by the stage name of Pennywise, was now in the building and ready to kill them. 

Stanley was the first to move, pulling a knife from the wooden

knife holder. He knew that whoever was down there, wasn’t there for books of for Mike, otherwise they would’ve called out for the librarian but alas, that didn’t happen. The losers followed Stan down the spiral staircase. “Are we really just going to follow Stan, the boy who left because of PTSD, down the stairs?” Richie whispered.

Stan rolled his eyes and continued down. “Hey dipshit, I know you’re here,” Stan growled, hoping it was loud enough for the man to hear.

As they neared the back entrance to the desk, the man came into view. He was perched on top of the library’s desk, dressed in a shitty store-bought clown costume, swinging his legs like an energetic child who was told to stay seated.

“Ah! The Losers Club. What a lovely surprise.” Pennywise greets pushing himself off the desk. “Stanley, I didn’t think you’d make it. Last I heard you were still in Florida.”

Stan lost all of his confidence. How did Pennywise know that? How the hell did he know where he lived?

“How do you know that?” Stan whimpered.

“My kind accomplice, Henry Bowers, I’m sure you all remember him. He’s been helping me with my escape.” 

Stan shied away. This couldn’t be happening, he knew it was a mistake coming back. He knew that he would be yelled at by everyone if they lived through this but he couldn’t do it. Eddie noticed that Stan had walked back to hide behind everyone.

“Hey, you good?” Eddie whispered.

“No. I can’t - I can’t do this Eddie.” Stan whispered back. “I should’ve turned back when I heard it on the radio.” 

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. You were almost killed that Summer, you have every right to be more afraid than any of us.”

Stan looked down to meet the eyes of Edward Kaspbrak. “I know.”

Stan felt Eddie embrace him. “You’ll be okay. Trust me. We won’t let that bastard get away.”

Mike was on the phone and Bill and Bev had started to attack the clown when out of literally nowhere, Bowers jumped out stabbing Eddie in the cheek with his pocket knife. 

****

It turned to chaos from there. Stan didn’t know what to do. He kinda just slowly backed away into the shadows watching as Eddie and Ben fought off Bowers before stumbling over to Mike. Bowers was trying his best to protect Pennywise from the clutches of the losers. Richie had ended up grabbing an axe to fend Bowers off Mike, landing the axe right into Bowers’ head.

Stan started to further shrink away, hiding in the storage room. 

“Stannie, I know you’re down there.” Pennywise teased, the sound of slow but determined footsteps echoed down the hall towards the stairs of the storage room. 

Stan could hear the distant screams of his friends as the footsteps got louder and louder. Fuck, what the hell happened to my friends? He huddled in a corner, away from the door and hidden by at most 8 rows of bookshelves. 

“Yippee Kiyay Motherfu-” Richie screamed but stopped mid-sentence when he was pushed heavily into the wall, hitting his head on impact. Eddie took the opportunity to throw a book at Pennywise’s head to distract him from Stan. But that almost led to Eddie getting a knife to the stomach.

*

Stan came out from his hiding place as soon as he heard Eddie’s scream. Pennywise was to busy trying to lunge at Eddie,

Richie was down and everyone was trying to pry Eddie away from the clown man’s grip. 

Stan needed to do something, he decided to yell, “Why don’t you stop traumatising my friends and come at me, asshole!” Pennywise turned around just in time to see a shelf coming down on him, the end result of a domino effect started by Stan shoving one of the end bookshelves.

Just as the shelf collapsed onto Pennywise, an officer waltzed in. “We need paramedics in here asap.” The officer announced into his walkie-talkie. “Anyone want to explain why there’s a dead man out there?”

“Self defence, the guy was trying to attack my friend and he was the one that put that hole in my husbands face,” Richie said pointing to both Mike and Eddie.

“Okay.” The officer said. The paramedics come in and lift the shelf off the man in the clown costume, putting him on the stretcher and locking his hands and feet into restraints.

****

The losers all make their way up to the ambulances to get checked out. Richie had a minor concussion and needed to take things slow for the next few days, so he and Eddie couldn’t fly back to New York for another few days. Eddie had his cheek patched up and cleaned. Bill and Mike had a few stitches, Stan, Bev and Ben were the only ones to come out unscathed but had been scarred mentally. They all had. 

As soon as Eddie was cleared he was straight on the phone with Maggie, letting her know that he and Richie wouldn’t be back for a few more days. So she and Wentworth would need to look after Caleb, Stan guessed that the two adopted a child, for a few more days than planned.

Bill jumped off the seat, as soon as he was cleared, and headed straight to Stan. “I’m sorry Bill, I am a real coward.” Stan whimpered to Bill.

“No, you aren’t baby. You have every right to be afraid.” Bill said, “You wanna hug? You look like you need one.” Stan nodded and hugged his boyfriend.

“Yes, yes I am Bill. I am a coward. I run away at every sign of trouble. That makes me a fucking coward.”

Bev is the first to join in the hugging of Stanley Uris. Soon everyone joins in, making sure that he feels the support of the 6 other members of their club. All his worries seemed to wash away.

“Let’s go to the Quarry,” Richie announced. 

****

Bev, Ben, Mike, Eddie and Richie basically made a run for it, to get to one of their many old hangout spots. Bill hung behind to walk with Stan, who was still shaking from the whole experience.

“If any of us were in your position, we would be feeling the exact way,” Bill said.

“Really? You’re all stronger than me, mentally.” Stan replied.

“Not true.” Stan gave him a look. “You swore during your bar mitzvah, you can watch horror films without any nightmares, you’re incredibly smart. You’re getting your PhD in a month! You’re stronger than you think, we all may be smart but you’re the smartest. 

“Don’t let this one thing get in the way of that. You aren’t a coward, a coward wouldn’t jump off the Quarry’s cliff. A coward certainly wouldn’t voice his opinion, the number of times that you stood up against all of us? A coward wouldn’t do that.”

“I never thought of it like that,” Stan whispered.

“And a coward wouldn’t admit that he’s a coward or do anything to help themselves. And finally, a coward wouldn’t scream at an escaped murderer to come and get him so that they’d stop attacking his friends. Nor would they push the shelves down.” 

Stan remembered the therapy he took as a child and the fact that he had been taking anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills since then and doing everything he could to forget that Summer in ‘89.

He thought back to only moments ago as his impulsivity and adrenaline were through the roof. The thought of anyone hurting any of his friends was enough for him to become enraged. His body was still pumping out adrenaline, he was vibrating like he usually does after 4 cups of coffee. But he only had two today and didn’t have his customary caffeine shakes.

“You’re safe now, and that’s all that matters,” Bill said softly. “In the wise words of Richie Tozier, ‘you’re braver than you think’.”

“Richie said that?” Stan giggled, Bill smiled, he loved hearing his boyfriend giggle, it was cute.

“Yeah. To Eddie.”

“Oh my God, we’re the less over the top version of Richie and Eddie.” 

Bill and Stan continued to laugh as they made their way to the Quarry to catch up with the losers.


End file.
